[War News Update] The Warzone/The Drive: The USAF Expands MQ-9 Reaper Drone Force in Afghanistan to Its Largest Size Ever

The air war over Afghanistan is rapidly heating up and a huge deployment of Reapers drones is the latest major development.

The U.S. Air Force says its force of MQ-9 Reapers at Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan is now the largest deployment of the type to a single base ever. The drones are part of a larger surge in the air war over the country, which could still include yet more unmanned aircraft in the near future as other services, such as the U.S. Navy, consider their own unmanned contributions.

The Air Force says there are now nearly three squadrons worth of Reapers at Kandahar, though it declined to give specific numbers, according to a report by Stars and Stripes on Jan. 26, 2018. The size and scope of American presence there had steadily shrunk since the NATO-led coalition officially ended combat operations in 2014. It has begun to grow again as the United States has reinvigorated its efforts against the Taliban, Al Qaeda, ISIS, and other militant groups in the country, deploying additional ground forces, including elements of the U.S. Army’s first ever dedicated advisory unit, the 1st Security Forces Assistance Brigade, or 1st SFAB.

#4
It's almost as if Trump said next to nothing about military matters while we quietly re-armed ourselves, unlike Obozo who telegraphed 3/4 of our punches. I remember some talk a few years ago that we were running low on certain munitions. At least here, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

#6
I'll be watching you
(Every breath you take, every move you make, every bond you break, every step you take)
I'll be watching you
(Every single day, every word you say, every game you play, every night you stay)
I'll be watching you
(Every move you make, every vow you break, every smile you fake, every claim you stake)
I'll be watching you …

#9
Trying to figure it out here is a 2016 map of drone squadrons. The count of even MQ-9's varies greatly between squadrons.Squadron sheet from 2016
Low looks to be 12 Reapers per squadron high is 24 per squadron. That gives a low of 36 Reapers and a high of 72 Reapers in Kandahar.

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least thirty-four gunnies affiliated with the Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were killed or maimed during the operations in eastern Nangrhar province of Afghanistan.

The 201st Silab Corps of the Afghan army in the East said the gunnies were killed during the Arclight airstrikes and ground operations in Deh Bala district.

According to the Silab Corps officials, the operations were conducted in Charwazi, Miaji Baba center, and Kanja Worod Khana areas.

The officials further added that the operations are still underway against the terror group in the restive parts of Nangahrar province.

[Khaama (Afghanistan)] At least six Taliban...Arabic for students...Lions of Islam including a commander of the Red Unit of the group were killed or maimed during a clash in northern Kunduz province of Afghanistan.

The 209th Shaheen Corps of the Afghan army in a statement said three Taliban Lions of Islam including a commander of the Red Unit of the group were killed during the clash with the Afghan forces.

The statement further added that the Taliban Überstürmbannführer killed during the clash has been identified as Mumtaz and at least three others were critically maimed.

According to the Shaheen Corps, the clash took place in the vicinity of Chel Cheragh Bagh Sherkat area of the province.

[RADIOSHABELLE] al-Shabaab... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda... said it has amputated the right hands of two Somali men accused of theft in Kunya-Barow town of Somalia’s southern Lower Shabelle region.

The men identified as Mohammed Mohammed Hassan, 54, and Hassan Mohammed Yussuf, 45, were convicted of breaking into a shop and stealing 883 US dollar by Al-Shabaab court.

The right hands of the men were amputated by a dagger-wielding Lion of Islam at a square in the town with the presence of hundreds of local residents, including women and kiddies.

In areas under its control, Al-Shabaab regularly carries outs executions by firing squad, stonings, amputations and floggings after summary trials for a range of charges.

[RADIOSHABELLE] A manhunt has begun in Lamu for al-Shabaab... the personification of Somali state failure... returnees who sneaked back into the country but refuse to surrender to the police.

The operation will involve identifying communities that shield the returnees instead of handing them over for amnesty and rehabilitation.

Speaking in Lamu on Friday, Operation Linda Boni director Joseph Kanyiri said many of returnees are spies for the militia in Garissa, Lamu and Tana River.

He said communities in Witu, Kiunga, Kotile, Korissa, and Masalani are notorious for hiding returnees. They even help them to prepare and carry out attacks.

He said the spies are responsible for spreading propaganda leaflets, especially in Kotile, Korissa, and Msalani. "In the leaflets, the murderous Moslems claim they have no issues with Moslems and that their only target is Christians and [outsiders]."

What Christians? Unless there have been massive secret conversions, the population is entirely Sunni Muslim.

[RADIOSHABELLE] The security forces of Puntland...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion... administration have carried out an operation in the port city of Bosaso on Saturday, seizing explosives and suspected Al-Shabaab... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... myrmidons.

Puntland security officials in Bosaso displayed quantities of mortar shells captured in raids took place in the port town over the past few weeks.

The officials declined to comment more specific details on the weapon, they claimed the investigation is still underway.

Several attacks occurred in Bosaso in the past years, claimed by al-Shabaab and ISIS.

[AlAhram] Unidentified button men killed at least 14 soldiers in central Mali, an area targeted by a growing wave of attacks by Islamist holy warriors, when they overran a military camp early on Saturday, two army officers said.

The camp in the town of Soumpi, near the southern boundary of Mali's Timbuktu region, came under attack at around 6 a.m. (0600 GMT).

"The provisional toll is 14 dead, 17 maimed and two enemies killed. The search is still on for those missing," one of the sources said.

The second source said "around 15" soldiers had been killed.

"The soldiers abandonned their position. The enemy carried away material," he said.

Both sources asked not to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Violence by holy warrior groups, some with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... group, is on the rise in West Africa's arid Sahel region... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas.... In Mali, attacks have grown more frequent and spread further south towards the capital, Bamako.

[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The UN Special Mission in Libya expressed its alarm on Wednesday after reports of summary executions in Benghazi, in which at least nine people being rubbed out at the site of a twin boom-mobileing.

Referring to the killings as "brutal and outrageous," the mission said the UN "demands the handing over of Mahmoud al-Werfalli immediately to the International Criminal Court."

Werfalli is a special forces commander wanted by the ICC allegedly carrying out a number of similar killings.

In a tweet from its official account, the mission added that "it documented at least 5 similar cases, in 2017 alone, carried out or ordered by alWerfalli."

The photos, which were posted on social media and in local media, appear to show executions in front of Benghazi’s Bayaat al-Radwan mosque, where a twin boom-mobileing on Tuesday left at least 35 people dead.

One of the pictures shows a gunman dressed in military camouflage, pointing a weapon at the head of the first of a row of blindfolded men kneeling in blue jumpsuits in front of damaged mosque gates.

Another photo shows all but three of the people slumped forward on the road as the gunman makes his way along the line. It was unclear who the men were.

[AnNahar] A dronezap early Saturday killed seven suspected al-Qaeda forces of Evil in southern Yemen, a security official said.

The US military is the only force known to operate armed drones over Yemen.

The official said the strike happened after midnight and targeted a car in Shabwa province.

"All seven passengers, who were al-Qaeda members, were killed," said the security source.

The United States considers the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula...the latest incarnation of various Qaeda and Qaeda-allied groups, including the now-defunct Aden-Abyan Islamic Army that boomed the USS Cole in 2000... to be the radical group's most dangerous branch.

A long-running drone war against AQAP has intensified since US President Donald Trump...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and what ever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th President of the United States... took office in January 2017.

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Five people were maimed on Saturday when two kabooms hit two areas at the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, security sources were quoted saying.

An bomb went off near an industrial area in Rashidiya, north of Baghdad, leaving four people maimed, according to a security source quoted by Baghdad Today.

The website quoted the source saying that another bomb fitted under a vehicle belonging to a member of the Popular Mobilization Forces went off in Mashrou al-Wahda, south of the capital, leaving the driver with serious injuries.

Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Iraq’s military command said an gang was bombarded by U.S.-led coalition warplanes early Saturday in Anbar, a few hours after news reports said the jets mistakenly hit a local police officer and civilians.

The Joint Operations Command’s War Media Cell said that coalition warplanes struck an "gang" in al-Baghdadi region, west of the province during a hunt for a terrorist element.

"The JOC possessed accurate intelligence information about the presence of a terrorist leader, Karim al-Samarmad, at a house in Baghdadi for a meeting preparing for an attack against security forces and citizens", the command said in a statement.

It added that army forces, backed by coalition jets, moved to the area. Finishing the collection of evidence, the forces pulled back, only to detect "a gathering of button men", which "aircraft targeted without coordination with the assigned force", as the statement put it.

The statement did not mention the presence of civilians or security officials among that gathering, but earlier news reports said Baghdadi district’s police and the areas’ mayor were maimed in the strike, while at least seven non-combatants were killed.

[DAWN] Eight Iraqis were killed on Saturday, most of them security personnel, in a United States (US) air strike that apparently targeted them by mistake, a provincial official said.

"Eight people ‐ a senior intelligence official, five coppers and a woman ‐ were killed by a US strike on the centre of al-Baghdadi," a town in western Iraq, the official said, asking not to be identified.

"It seems the strike was a mistake," the official said of the incident in the Euphrates Valley town, adjacent to the Ain al-Asad airbase 250 kilometres west of the capital.

The dead were travelling in a convoy which had been deployed to support an operation against suspected Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (IS) group Lions of Islam in the area.

The strike destroyed most of the vehicles in the convoy and also maimed 20 people, including the town's police chief, who was in a serious condition, the provincial official said.

Iraq's Joint Operations Command, which coordinates the campaign against IS, said it had ordered a special forces raid in the town after receiving intelligence of a "meeting to be attended by terrorist commander Karim al-Samarmad".

It said it had requested "air support from the international coalition".

"Once the terrorist was locked awayYou have the right to remain silent... and while troops were carrying out searches, a grenade was thrown from an adjacent building."

As the special forces troops returned to base, they ran into a convoy of police and paramilitaries of the Hashed al-Shaabi auxiliary force that had been sent to support them.

The convoy was composed of pick-up trucks and the returning forces mistook them for Death Eaters and called in a coalition air strike, the JOC said.

[Ynet] The Paleostinian Security Services have uncovered 12 barrel bombs planted along a road in the Tulkarm area, a Paleostinian security source told Ynet on Saturday.

The explosives were found on a road connecting the Paleostinian villages of Attil and Illar in Area A of the West Bank, which is under complete Paleostinian Authority control.

According to the Paleostinian security source, a Paleostinian man noticed suspicious objects peeking out of the ground on the side of the road, which were uncovered due to the heavy rainfall over the weekend.

The Paleostinian man called the local police, and a Paleostinian engineering force that arrived at the scene uncovered 12 improvised bombs (IED). Each barrel bomb was 40 cm in length and 30 cm in diameter and weighed 20-30 kg.

The Paleostinian engineering force dismantled one IED at the scene and then neutralized the rest so they can be taken to a Paleostinian Security Services facility for further investigation.

According to the source, it is still unclear who the target of these IEDs was. The road is mostly used by civilian Paleostinian vehicles, but at times IDF vehicles also use it on their way to operational duty inside the Paleostinian Authority.

The source added that findings at the scene indicated the explosives have been planted a long time ago.

[RUDAW.NET] The Iranian Revolutionary Guards reported that three of their fighters were killed in armed festivities with a group of 21 "ISIS" snuffies who entered the country from the west on the borders with the Kurdistan Region. Kurdish security officials say that they are the same group who engaged in festivities against Kurdish forces in Halabja on Monday.

Iran’s security forces monitored and located the group in the western province of Kermanshah as they entered the country from the west, followed by festivities on Saturday morning, the Revolutionary Guard stated.

Mohammad Pakpur, the commander of the infantry forces of the Revolutionary Guards, told the state media that they captured 16 of the turbans, and that two of them were "surrounded" by the security forces. The rest were killed, he claimed.

Earlier in the day, the Iranian force said in a statement that the "majority" of the snuffies who belong to "ISIS" were captured, but the fighting was still going on, the statement published Saturday afternoon added.

The commander said that the fighting took place in Bamo area, located on the border between Iran and the Kurdistan Region.

A source from the Kurdish security in Garmiyan told Rudaw Saturday that they are the same group who entered armed festivities with their forces in Bamo Mountain, Halabja on the border with Iran.

The group then crossed the border into Iran, the source said earlier in the day, adding that "based on our intelligence, six of the fighters have been killed [by Iranian security forces], eleven of them captured, and the fate of four of them are as of yet unknown."

It is not clear whether the Iranian and Kurdish sides shared intelligence over the presence of the group on the border.

The Kurdish security on Tuesday said that group was suspected ISIS turbans, saying that they took control of their hideout on the mountain.

After Mount Bamo was secured, "their depot was also located a BKC rifle, two Kalashnikov rifles, a sack of TNTs, 17 RPG bullets, many food substances and a box of bullets," according to the Kurdish statement.

Bamo town, 195 kilometers southeast of the Kurdistan Region’s capital, is just west of the mountain range. It is within the Garmiyan bloc.

Mount Bamo is in the Hamrin mountain range and Kurdish officials have expressed concern about ISIS snuffies fleeing from places like liberated djinn-infested Mosul... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn... to Hamrin, as the rugged area provides many possible hideouts.

Garmiyan falls under the administration of Sulaimani province, Bamo however is now officially part of Halabja province.

[ALMASDARNEWS] Reports are emerging which indicate that a number of mass graves have been found by the Syrian Arab Army the near the Abu Duhur military airport ‐ located on the border of Idlib and Aleppo provinces.

Some Syrian pro-government social media outlets with links to military sources are spreading information about the possible discovery of three mass graves by the Syrian Army close to the Abu Duhur airbase.

It is said that Syrian troops combing the military installation’s outskirts found the burial sites. There is speculation that the graves hold the remains of some of the 71 soldiers who were first captured and then executed by Islamist forces of Evil after rebel groups captured the base from government forces in September 2015.

At the present time, al-Masdar News cannot confirm the report and even so other sources offer very little detail on the matter.

The Abu Duhur military airport was claimed by the Syrian Army from Islamist militias on Saturday exactly one week ago.

[ALMASDARNEWS] Eight days ago, Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....holy warriors trapped along the eastern shore of the Euphrates River in the Syrian province of Deir Ezzor launched a week-long offensive operation with all their remaining strength against US-led forces dubbed ’Revenge for the Virtuous [Virgin] Women.’

Although being far from a major victory, the terrorist offensive managed to accomplish a number of operational and tactical objectives &dash; lifting the siege off of ISIS forces in the town of Gharanij and the village of al-Bahra and inflicting almost two hundred dead on the ranks of US-backed Arab and Kurdish paramilitary groups.

The operation saw ISIS employ many hundreds of fighters and throw into battle all of its remaining fire support weapons including (as the picture below show) a truck with a working tank turret rigged onto it. Two boom-mobiles were also used, both hit their intended marks.

Highly untypical to most Islamic State offensives of the last couple of years that normally last two or three days (during which time they either succeed or fizzle out), the most recent operation against US-backed fighters endured for seven straight days before the terrorist group ended the battle on its own terms.

[ALMASDARNEWS] As Ottoman Turkish and allied Lion of Islam forces from the so-called Free Syrian Army... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund... (FSA) advance further upon Kurdish positions in northern Syria, The Sick Man of Europe Turkey...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... has called upon the United States to vacate its military bases in the Syrian district of Manbij.

Speaking to news hounds on Saturday, Ottoman Turkish foreign minister Melet Cavusoglu said that Ankara is calling upon the US, its official ally in NATO...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis...., to cease any and all support to Syrian Kurdish forces and militias.

Cavusoglu’s statement came mere hours after an official telephone talk between Turkey’s Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and US National Security Adviser Herbert Raymond McMaster about the ongoing Ottoman Turkish invasion of Syrian soil.

McMaster is reported to have promised during the talk that the US would no longer provide weapons to the YPG militias, while both agreed to increase coordination and clear up "misunderstandings" regarding Syria.

While both Turkey and the United States are in violation of international law by entering Syria with military forces without permission by Damascus or a UN mandate, both countries have vastly different interests in the country.

The United States has for years supplied weapons and training to Kurdish militias in northern Syria, causing concerns that they seek an eventual secession of Kurdish-occupied lands from Syria. Turkey on the other hand, having supported so-called moderate rebel groups such as the FSA since at least 2015, actively seeks to prevent the existence of a YPG-controlled area to its southern border, as it sees the Syrian Kurdish units as an affiliate of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which is active within Turkey.

#3
I have long been of the opinion that there are no "good guys" in Syria. There are victims, the bad, the ugly and the really bad and ugly. The victims I have sympathy for are the women and kids. The rest are bad guys by vaying degrees. Are the Kurds the least bad o the bunch? I don't know. And I don't think anybody else really knows either. To think the Kurds if they had the upper hand would be incapabled of being just as bad as others have been is foolish. Maybe things would be sweetness and light. But then again most likely not. The Kurds (maybe some,maybe most) would want revenge for wrongs done to them. The Arabs (Sunni, Shia and whatever tribal affiliation) will remembet when they ran things and long for the good days. IMHO the regions problems go back to 5 or 10k years ago somebody stole somebody's goat

#4
Herbert Raymond McMaster is siding with the new Islamic State of Turkey. Thinking about some of his Europe conferences and the Islamic whitewashing there, not a huge surprise he has agreed with Turkey Ottomania to the killing of Kurds.

Is this red on red or blue on blue? Maybe green on green? I’ve lost track of who gets which colours.

[ALMASDARNEWS] A veteran Islamist militia has joined the Free Syrian Army... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund...’s battle against Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems....-affiliated fighters in the Syrian province of Daraa. The operational merging comes amid some of the most violent festivities ever witnessed between rebels and ISIS throughout the southwestern governorate.

Forces of the Syrian Moslem Brüderbund-linked militia Ahrar al-Sham...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014... have combined ranks with local rebels Daraa province’s southern countryside to fight ISIS.

The ISIS group which the rebel coalition is pitting itself against in Daraa is technically an affiliate of the terrorist group that goes by the name Jaish Khalid Ibn al-Walid (Army of Khalid Ibn al-Walid). It operates out of Daraa’s Yarmouk Basin region ‐ being in control of several large towns and dozens of villages.

Recently, the Free Syrian Army issued a surrender ultimatum to ISIS-linked fighters in Yarmouk, threatening a major offensive which it says it is almost ready to launch and which will apparently witnessed the total destruction of ISIS throughout Daraa.

[ALMASDARNEWS] The Sick Man of Europe Turkey...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund.... started a military offensive in Kurdish-dominated Afrin on January 20, aiming to protect its boundaries from various Kurdish militia formations, treated as a potential terror threat by Ankara.

"The Ottoman Turkish Air Force, during air attacks in the course of operation Olive Branch, on January 27 destroyed 42 targets of the PYD terrorist organization (Kurdish Democratic Alliance Party), YPG (Kurdish Self-Defense Forces), ISIS (banned in Russia) and 53 terrorists. The operation involved 22 aircraft, which returned safely to their bases. Since the beginning of the operation, 394 snuffies have been eliminated. Ottoman Turkish forces lost two servicemen during the day, and 11 servicemen were maimed," a statement from the Ottoman Turkish General Staff, obtained by Sputnik, says.

The report also noted that two members of the opposition "Free Syrian Army... the more palatable version of the Syrian insurgency, heavily influenced by the Moslem Brüderbund..." have died, and four others were seriously injured.

Kurdish SideMeanwhile,...back at the shootout, Butch shot Black Bart's other gun out of his other hand...... Kurdish militia earlier in the day reported the downing of two Ottoman Turkish reconnaissance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) in the village of Adama, as well as two Ottoman Turkish soldiers killed in the Chia district.

According to the SDF, Turkey keeps bombing Afrin, especially the districts of Jabal Bafalon and Chia. Kurdish forces, in their turn, are repelling the attacks, which are supported by the Free Syrian Army, on Qastal Ma’af, a strategically important point, and have managed to destroy an armored vehicle.

Olive Branch Operation
Ankara started its military operation in Syrian Afrin on January 20, soon after the US announcement of their plans to start training the new "Border Defense Forces," comprising the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Kurdish YPG militias, affiliated by Ankara with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated a terrorist group by Turkey and several other countries.

[ALMASDARNEWS] For the third time in the last 72 hours, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has fended off a large assault by the so-called Islamic State...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not really Moslems.... (ISIS) in the eastern part of the Deir Ezzor Governorate.

ISIS began their assault on Saturday by storming the Syrian Arab Army’s positions at the town of al-Jalaa, which is located just west of Albukamal city.

However,the man who has no enemies isn't anybody and has never done anything... despite the intensity of the Islamic State assault, they were unable to penetrate the Syrian Army’s lines at al-Jalaa, resulting in their eventual retreat from the town.

According to a military source in Damascus, the Syrian Arab Army killed at least ten Islamic State terrorists, while also destroying two armored vehicles that were used to attack their positions.

The Islamic State has recently stepped up their attacks in the Deir Ezzor Governorate in order to take advantage of the Syrian Army’s weak defenses in western Albukamal.

[ALMASDARNEWS] The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) launched a powerful assault in the northern countryside of the Hama Governorate, Saturday, striking Jaish al-’Izza’s positions inside the towns of Kafr Zita and al-Lataminah.

Using surface-to-surface missiles, the Syrian Arab Army repeatedly struck Jaish al-’Izza’s positions, tonight, causing serious damage to their defenses in the northern countryside of the Hama Governorate.

Tonight’s missile attack comes just 24 hours after reinforcements from the Syrian Army’s Tiger Forces arrived in southern Idlib for their next big battle in the region.

On Friday, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), controlling the area, reported the cross-border operation’s civilian corpse count to be 59, saying that 134 other individuals on the Syrian side of the border had been injured. On Saturday, the Ottoman Turkish forces attacked residential buildings in the Afrin area with different types of weapons, the agency reported.

The Ottoman Turkish offensive has caused damage to civilian infrastructure, including residential buildings and archaeological sites, the outlet added.

Ankara started its operation "Olive Branch" in Afrin on January 20. According to the Ottoman Turkish leadership, the operation was aimed at clearing the country’s border with Syria from terrorist presence. Ankara considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG), part of the SDF, being linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is listed as terrorist organization in The Sick Man of Europe Turkey...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.....

U.S. coalition forces stationed in the Syrian Kurdish town of Manbij are ready to guard against a threatened Turkish offensive that risks direct confrontation between the NATO allies, a coalition spokesman said Friday.

Turkey last week launched an air and ground assault on the northern Syrian enclave of Afrin in an attempt to oust the American-backed People's Protection Units, or YPG, which Ankara considers a terrorist group. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to extend the operation 60 miles east to Manbij, where, unlike in Afrin, the Pentagon maintains U.S. troops.
"Our forces there are well prepared to defend themselves," coalition spokesman Col. Ryan Dillon told the Washington Free Beacon. "We have air coverage over all of our troops so we're always prepared to defend ourselves, whether it's from ISIS or any other threat."

Dillon reaffirmed American support for the Kurdish YPG fighters who make up the backbone of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a key U.S. partner in the campaign against the Islamic State. The Trump administration has continued to provide weapons, training, and air support to SDF troops over the protests of Turkey.

A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.